300 WSM - Do you feel handicaped?

[idig4au]

Wow I forget this post.

As a follow up, I’ve taken 9 different species of goats and sheep plus a Mt caribou’s since I had my 300 wsm built. It’s set up to shoot 168 grain Barnes’s ttsx and it’s performed flawlessly. Super confident with this caliber and certainly not handicapped by any means whatsoever. Its become my go to mountain rifle and caliber.

 

[wgood]

How do you like the 168 grain bullets? I've bounced back and forth between 165's and 180's and haven't completely settled on a bullet yet. I used to really like the Speer Deep Curl 180's before they discontinued them. Had good luck with Hornady 165 Interlocks this year with my .300 WSM but am not dead set on it as my go to and am not sure if the price of the Barnes's justify their use for me.

 

[bates]

I just picked up my 300 wsm today

going to first try the berger elite hunters in 180g

 

[HuntHarder]

My 300wsm eats a steady diet of 185 VLD's. I would not say I feel handicapped, but i do think if I did it all over again, i would just go 300 win for the ability to shoot heavier bullets at a higher velocity.

 

[4ester]

The only reason I’d feel handicapped with my 300 WSM is due to poor feed from the magazine. But it shoots pretty darn good with the Berger 185 CH.


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[HiMtnHntr]

Performance difference is kind of like splitting hairs to me, but I am not a long ranger. The 300 short serves those who enjoy the benefits of the cartridge, and packages it comes in. If you're looking to shoot a country mIle and squeeze every drop out of your setup, then maybe it matters? I'm currently loading the 178 gn eldx and so far they seem to do the job well. I've also loaded the 180 tsx, and they do a pretty good job too.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I shoot all that stuff you mentioned as well as moose, caribou and elk with a 308 or 30-06, I don’t think I’ve ever really felt under gunned but I don’t really try for super long shots. I keep my hunting distances to about 400 max and usually (almost always) try to get closer. If I was looking to set up a rifle for “long range” hunting, I’d likely look into a 300wsm.

 

[cscalvin]

I didn't feel handicapped until I read all the stuff that Broz posted on the 300 win 215 berger hybrid. Not sure I can stuff that bullet into my Kimber 8400 mag box. Want to try though. That data he has is awesome. Had I read that first I'd have gone Kimber win mag.

I shoot the 215s in my 300wsm and they work fantastic.

 

[Ryan Avery]

I've seen a couple bears and an elk get shot at over a 1000 yards with 210 Bergers. The 300 WSM a pretty cool round IMO.

 

[Kotaman]

I've hunted all 29 Big Game species in NA with a .300 WSM and never once felt "under gunned"/handicapped. The longest kill was a Barren Ground Caribou at 602 yards...pretty much a bang/flop. Most kills were with a 168 grain TTSX and more recently a 175 grain LRX. Just picked up some 200 Grain ELD X to play around with though.

 

[nrh6.7]

Ryan, there's a pic around here somewhere of your son over a whitetail, I think, with a braked 300 wsm. Curious about that rifle. Was it a build?

 

[Ryan Avery]

It’s just a 300WSM Tikka T3 with DE brake on it. Lane was 12 years old and smoked that deer at 319 yards. It was a great day!


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[TwoTikkas]

Dang! You fellas are making me think I need to revisit the 300 WSM. My only experience is with a T3. It was a decent shooter. Under an inch with a couple different 180s. It just didn't trip my trigger. Maybe in an actual short action rifle it would make better sense. Can't deny all the support it gets here. I still have dies and brass............

 

[lewy]

The 300wsm has been my primary hunting cartridge for over 10 years now and has been excellent. 180gr accubonds

 

[luke moffat]

Dang! You fellas are making me think I need to revisit the 300 WSM. My only experience is with a T3. It was a decent shooter. Under an inch with a couple different 180s. It just didn't trip my trigger. Maybe in an actual short action rifle it would make better sense. Can't deny all the support it gets here. I still have dies and brass............

Actually the Long action of the tikka makes a lot of sense for the 300 wsm. With using the correct magazine you will have much more mag box room for Long high BC bullets like the 212 eldx Or 210-215 berger bullets unlike being cramped for mag box space like you might on the tikka with being limited to 3.500”

 

[TwoTikkas]

I would have to agree with that Luke. I've seen various configurations of T3s. I'd have to do a bolt stop change as well I believe. I'm thinking there are a couple T3 300 WSMs advertised locally right now. How do the big VLDs fare velocity wise in the T3 length barrel? I would suppose the slower the powder the better.

 

[6.5Express]

I've had my 300 wsm for at least 12 years. In that time, it's killed animals from coues whitetail to a wild bull bison. I did feel slightly undergunned on the bison hunt, but it is the "biggest" chambering I own. One shot just behind the shoulder, through the heart, and through the bisons offside shoulder blade, coming to rest just under the hide and recovered (165 ttsx) made me a believer. I've shot multiple mature mule deer bucks out to just shy of 500 which is my self imposed limit with the rifle with accubonds (150-180) and more recently the 165 ttsx and nothing has ever walked away from it. Just my bit of experience with mine.

 

[idig4au]

How do you like the 168 grain bullets? I've bounced back and forth between 165's and 180's and haven't completely settled on a bullet yet. I used to really like the Speer Deep Curl 180's before they discontinued them. Had good luck with Hornady 165 Interlocks this year with my .300 WSM but am not dead set on it as my go to and am not sure if the price of the Barnes's justify their use for me.

I’ve had great success with 168 gr ttsx in terms of effectiveness on animals. Great weight retention. I’m getting 3150fps using 64.5 gr of RL17. I’m a big Barnes fan and have a lot of confidence in their products.

 

[Mosby]

I shot a nice buck in Alberta with a 300 WSM loaded with a 130 gr Barnes TSX. That bullet shoots incredible in my rifle. Out to 400 yards I can hold on hair and that is about my limit shooting out of a blind in freezing cold temps. Never felt under gunned for deer. For elk I loaded up 165 gr Speer Grand Slams and 168 gr Barnes TSX but I normally carry my 300 Win Mag elk hunting simply because it is lighter.

 

[hodgeman]

I've used the .300WSM nearly exclusively since 2006 and have probably dropped between 3 and 4 dozen animals with it up to moose. There's nothing on the N.American continent I wouldn't hunt with that rifle...or any other continent for that matter. Most of my hunting has been with the 180gr Accubond at 2925-2950fps.

I wouldn't say I've felt handicapped by it in any way whatsoever.